FIRST REMINDER. Thursday. 10th day of Rabeeu At-thani. PROPHET MUHAMMAD sallallahu alaiyhi wassallam FORETOLD IN THE BIBLE. BismilLaahir Rahmaanir Raheem. The coming of Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, was foretold by the previous prophets and some of these prophecies can still be found today in the scriptures of Jews and Christians. Before we examine some of these passages, we need to understand the proper interpretation of the Bible in Islam. Allah has informed us that some of the verses of the Bible have been corrupted and changed from their original meaning. Allah says: Do you hope that they would believe for you while a party of them used to hear the words of Allah and then distort the Torah after they had understood it while they knew? Surah Al-Baqarah 2:75 Allah says again: Verily, there is among them a party who alter the Scripture with their tongues so you may think it is from the Scripture, but it is not from the Scripture. They say this is from Allah, but it is not from Allah. They speak lies about Allah while they know. Quran 3:78. The fabrication of verses of the Torah, or the Old Testament, was condemned by the Prophet Jeremiah, peace be upon him. Jeremiah exposed the corruption of the scribes charged with the duty of writing the Torah. The Book of Jeremiah states: How can you say we are wise and the law of the Lord is with us? But, behold, the false pen of the scribes has made it into a lie. Jeremiah 8:8 Similarly, we have evidence that some verses of the Gospel, or the New Testament, have been changed to support the doctrines of the Church. For example, the King James Version of the book of 1 John states: For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. 1 John 5:7, KJV However, the Revised Standard Version states: And the Spirit is the witness, because the Spirit is the truth. 1 John 5:7, RSV The words “in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one,” have been inserted into the text to support the Church’s doctrine of Trinity, although these words do not appear in most of the original Greek manuscripts. It is likely that scribes in the Church changed the text to counter the arguments of the Arians, those Christians who did not accept that Jesus was in a co-equal trinity with Allah. Martin Luther, an important leader in the Protestant Reformation, commented on this verse: It appears as if this verse was inserted by the orthodox against the Arians, which, however, cannot suitably be done, because both here and there he speaks not of witnesses in heaven, but of witnesses on earth. Source: Meyer’s Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, 1 John 5:7 Due to these fabrications, Prophet Muhammad told the Muslims to generally take a neutral stance when evaluating verses of the Bible. Abu Huraira reported: The people of the Book would recite the Torah in Hebrew and explain it in Arabic to the Muslims. The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: Do not believe the people of the Book nor disbelieve them, but say: We have believed in Allah and what has been revealed to us and what has been revealed to Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob… (2:136) Source: Sahih Bukhari 4215, Grade: Sahih. That said, our faith is not based upon verses of the Bible, but rather our faith is based upon the merits of Prophet Muhammad and the veracity of the Noble Quran. Nevertheless, we find some verses of the Bible that confirm what has been mentioned in the Quran. Such verses remain to encourage people to consider deeply the truthfulness of Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam and Islam. To be continued in Shaa Allah. May ALLAH keep guiding us all and protect us from any deviation. Aameem.